'Total Recall' original, 3.5 stars

"Total Recall" is very much a product of its time, an artifact of the 1990s, from its cast to its score to its look and feel.

There is probably a fair amount of irony at play, a movie about the future rooted so firmly in the not-so-distant past. But there is also a lot of fun in Paul Verhoeven's 1990 film, much of it provided by Arnold Schwarzenegger. And the plot, based on a story by Philip K. Dick, is as mind-bending as ever. It's not a masterpiece, but it is a fast-moving thriller, one worth revisiting (and, evidently, remaking).

In spite of the then-jaw-dropping special effects (they hold up pretty well), the shocking violence (still) and Schwarzenegger's performance (one of his best), the story remains the best part of the movie. Is what happens real or an implanted memory? The great thing is, we never really know.

Douglas Quaid (Schwarzenegger) lives what seems like a good life in 2084. He works in construction and lives in a nice apartment with his beautiful wife, Lori (Sharon Stone). But he keeps having dreams about Mars, which is now colonized and home to warring partisan groups. There is a woman in the dreams, too, but Quaid can't place her.

Unable to shake the dreams, Quaid visits a business called Rekall, which implants memories in your brain so that you "remember" a great vacation. Against the wishes of the owner, Quaid goes with the Mars package, in which he will be a spy. But something goes wrong during the process -- Quaid reacts violently, screaming, "You blew my cover!" repeatedly. The next thing we know he is on the run, booking passage to Mars, trying to escape Richter (Michael Ironside) and his men.

Quaid learns -- or thinks he learns -- that he is in fact a spy whose memory has been wiped. His real name is Hauser, and he works for Cohaagen (Ronny Cox, always an excellent bad guy), the crooked leader on Mars, who is doing his best to brutally crush a revolution by the poor and downtrodden. Quaid is reunited with Melina (Rachel Ticotin) -- the woman in his dreams -- but she's miffed because he doesn't remember her.

The whole thing hinges on a reactor built by aliens that could make Mars habitable on the surface. (As it is now, humans live inside an enclosed dome; anyone who winds up outside swells up and explodes.) Cohaagen, who sells breathable air to Mars' inhabitants, doesn't want the reactor turned on -- though, he claims, it's because he thinks it is unstable and will kill everyone. It would certainly kill his business.

There are numerous twists, most of which play with the idea of who Hauser -- or Quaid -- really is. Are his loyalties with Cohaagen or the rebels? With Melina or against her? And is any of it real or just a Rekall vacation memory we're following Quaid through as it is implanted?

Verhoeven doesn't really give us any answers, and that's a good thing. Instead he provides us with stunning visuals of Mars, truly shocking violence -- a lot of people get killed with head shots in this movie -- and, despite how that may sound, a sense of humor. Some of it is visual -- the three-breasted mutant prostitute on Mars -- and some of it arrives in the form of Schwarzenegger's trademark quips and puns (repeating the best would spoil some plot points).

If it isn't quite the sensory revelation it was in 1990, it still holds up on most fronts. Dated? Some of it, sure. But with Verhoeven pulling strings and Arnold in the driver's seat, the best parts of "Total Recall" will never get old.